Spring bar assembly

ABSTRACT

A spring bar assembly for mounting watch bands or straps to watches comprises a hollow body portion having resiliently backed protruding members extending outwardly from both ends to engage the watch bezel lugs. A resilient material such as silicon rubber is assembled within the body portion to urge the protruding members outwardly therefrom.

United States Patent 1 1 Bornor et al.

[ 1 Jan. 16, 1973' [54] SPRING BAR ASSEMBLY [75] Inventors: Brian J. Bornor, Ashford; Douglas J. H. Macgregor, Hayes, both of England [73] Assignee: Timex Conn.

22 Filed: Dec. 16, 1970 21 Appl. No.: 98,531

52 U.S.Cl. ..24/265 11, 267/63 51 int. c: ..A44c 5/18 [58] Field of Search ..24/265 .2; 16/86; 267/63 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,702,451 2/1955 Schwaibold ..24/2652 Corporation, Waterbury,-

2,157,408 5/1939 Greenberg ..24/265.2 2,308,505 1/1943 Geoffrion..... ....24/265.2 2,668,049 2/1954 Taylor ..267/63 2,681,800 6/1954 Taylor... ..267/63 3,037,764 6/1962 Paulsen. ..267/63 3,493,221 2/1970 Mozdzanowski ..267/63 Primary Examiner-Bernard A. Gelak Att0meyRichard A. Joel 57] ABSTRACT 1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAI 16 1915 3,710,458

sum 1 [1F 2 /4 28 /3 m l2 I5 21 FIG3 INVENTORS BRIAN J. BOR/VOR Y DOUGLAS .IHLMACG'REGOR ATTORNE Y PATENTEDJM 16-1913 SHEET 2 BF 2 FIG.4

FIG. 5

SPRING BAR ASSEMBLY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to watches and more particularly to a spring bar assembly for watches. 7 Conventional spring bars which are used to join bands or straps to watches have been a source of numerous problems. The spring bar must have outwardly extending projecting members or pins at each end which are readily compressible to facilitate assembly to the watch bezel lugs. On the other hand, the pins must DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring now to the drawings, the invention comforming the member 16 is carefully selected to provide be urged against the bezel with sufficient force to pro vide a secure mounting for the watch. The general solution has been to mount a coiled spring within the body of the assembly to provide a backing for the projecting pins.

Since the coiled spring for such assemblies is rather small,.it gives rise to problems during assembly of the spring bar and often does not provide sufficient holding force. Furthermore, failures may occur in the future due to the corrosion of the coiled spring.

The following patents represent some of the prior art pertinent to the field of the present invention: US. Pat.

Nos. 2,574,67l; 2,871,653, 2,891,785 and 3,264,820.'

Other patents may, of course, exist and be relevant to the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved spring bar assembly for watches.

This object is attained by the present invention which employs a resilient material to provide the urging behind the spring bar pins. The assembly comprises a main body portion having a predetermined amount of shaped resilient material, such as silicon rubber, mounted therewithin and pins extending outwardly from each end of the body portion. The pins are slideably mounted for movement within the body portion and are backed by the resilient material. The resilient material is suitably arranged within the hollow body to permit expansion in a direction transverseto the axis of the assembly as the pins are placed under compression.

tion with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is aside view of a watch showing the spring bar assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is cross-sectioned view of the spring bar assembly prior to assembly to. a watch showing the resilient material in anon-crompressed state,

FIG. 3 is a view of the invention taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1, and, I

F IG. 4 and FIG. 5 represent another embodiment of the invention showing the spring bar in an un-compressed and a compressed state.

the necessary holding force to secure a watch band to the watch 11. Preferably the member 16 is positioned within the substantially cylindrical interior 1'3 to permit room for uniform expansion during compression.

A pair of spring bar pins 17 and 18 are slideably mounted at the ends of the body portion 19, and intermediate portion 2l of lesser diameter and an outer portion 22 of a still smaller diameter. The rear portion 19 of pins 17 and 18 is backed by resilient member 16 while the outer walls thereof are mounted for movement along the interior surface of the body 12. In the extended or uncompressed positon. of FIG. 2, the pins 17 and 18 are retained within the body by the ledge 23 which abuts to engage the bezel lugs 24 with the ledge 26 bearing against the bezel 27. 1

As may be seen from FIG. 2, the resilient member 16 is mounted within the body portion. 12 of the assembly 10 leaving a clearance 28. Upon compression, when the pins 17 and 18 are forced inwardly to permit assembly to the bezel 27, the member 16 expands into the clearance space 28. The resilient member 16 urges the pins 17 and 18 outwardly with sufficient force to securely hold the watch band which. is assembled about the spring bar 10 to the watch 11. This overcomes a serious difficulty with small size spring bars of conventional design wherein coiled springs are unable to provide adequate holding force. On the other hand, the member 16 must be designed so that compression thereof does not distort the tubular body 12. In another embodiment of the invention, the resilient member 16 may be a hollow slug which is intended to provide stability and eliminate forming while retaining the necessary pressure and resilience characteristics. This emhas a hollow interior 30. The spring bar is shown both tion will be more clearly seen when viewed in conjuncin a compressed and non-compressed state.

The above-described invention also facilitates construction of the spring bar assembly 10 by eliminating the difficulty experienced in handling small coiled springs. The member 16 in the form of a resilient slug maybe readily inserted within the tubular body 12, the

pins 17 and 18 placed thereagainst and theends of the tube crimped over to hold the assembly 10 together.

It is to be understood, of course, that the arrangements discussed above are merely illustrative in nature.

Numerous other arrangements may be readily devised 1 by those skilledin the art which will embody the principles of the invention and fall within the spirit and scope 2 thereof.

We claim: 1. A spring bar assembly for watch-es comprising:

a tubular body having inwardly extending edges at both ends,

a member consisting of a resilient mass of substana pin slideably mounted and retained within each end of the tubular body by the inwardly extending edges, said pins abutting against opposite faces of the resilient member, and,

comprising an enlarged rear portion slideably engaging the walls of the tubular body and contacting the resilient member, an intermediate portion of lesser diameter forming a ledge with the rear portion to engage the inwardly extending edges of the tubular body in order to retain the pins within the assembly in an un-compressed state, and an outer portion of still smaller diameter forming a ledge with the intermediate member, said outer portion being designed to engage the bezel lugs in a watch. 

1. A spring bar assembly for watches comprising: a tubular body having inwardly extending edges at both ends, a member consisting of a resilient mass of substantially cylindrical configuration mounted within the tubular body, said member being of a smaller diameter than the tubular body to permit expansion thereof when said resilient member is placed under compression, and the resilient member comprising a hollow slug of resilient material which is dimensionally stable and corrosion resistant, and, a pin slideably mounted and retained within each end of the tubular body by the inwardly extending edges, said pins abutting against opposite faces of the resilient member, and, comprising an enlarged rear portion slideably engaging the walls of the tubular body and contacting the resilient member, an intermediate portion of lesser diameter forming a ledge with the rear portion to engage the inwardly extending edges of the tubular body in order to retain the pins within the assEmbly in an un-compressed state, and an outer portion of still smaller diameter forming a ledge with the intermediate member, said outer portion being designed to engage the bezel lugs in a watch. 